Patents by Inventor Thomas Y. Merrell

Thomas Y. Merrell has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11030994
    Abstract: A method and data processing device for detecting a communication between a first and second entity. The method includes identifying whether a previous communication between the first and second entity has been detected. In response to identifying that the previous communication between the first and second entity has been detected, the method determines an elapsed time since detection of the previous communication. The method predicts a topic of the communication, in part based on the determined elapsed time. The topic corresponds to a specific domain from among a plurality of available domains for automatic speech recognition (ASR) processing. The method triggers selection and activation of a first domain specific (DS) ASR engine from among a plurality of available DS ASR engines to utilize a smaller resource footprint than a general ASR engine and facilitate recognition of specific vocabulary and context, in part, based on the elapsed time since the previous communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC
    Inventors: Zhengping Ji, Leo S. Woiceshyn, Karthik Mohan Kumar, Yi Wu, Thomas Y. Merrell
  • Publication number: 20210021706
    Abstract: A method, a communication device, and a computer program product for identifying a live phone call. The method includes receiving, at a first communication device, an activation of a verification mode for a phone call. The method includes receiving, from a second communication device on the phone call, first audio data associated with the phone call. The method further includes determining, via a processor of the first communication device, if the first audio data contains machine originated audio, and in response to determining that the first audio data does not contain machine originated audio , generating and outputting an alert that the phone call is live.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 17, 2019
    Publication date: January 21, 2021
    Inventors: JARRETT K. SIMERSON, LEO S. WOICESHYN, KARTHIK MOHAN KUMAR, YI WU, THOMAS Y. MERRELL
  • Patent number: 10887459
    Abstract: A method, a communication device, and a computer program product for identifying a live phone call. The method includes receiving, at a first communication device, an activation of a verification mode for a phone call. The method includes receiving, from a second communication device on the phone call, first audio data associated with the phone call. The method further includes determining, via a processor of the first communication device, if the first audio data contains machine originated audio, and in response to determining that the first audio data does not contain machine originated audio, generating and outputting an alert that the phone call is live.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC
    Inventors: Jarrett K. Simerson, Leo S. Woiceshyn, Karthik Mohan Kumar, Yi Wu, Thomas Y. Merrell
  • Publication number: 20200342853
    Abstract: A method and data processing device for detecting a communication between a first and second entity. The method includes identifying whether a previous communication between the first and second entity has been detected. In response to identifying that the previous communication between the first and second entity has been detected, the method determines an elapsed time since detection of the previous communication. The method predicts a topic of the communication, in part based on the determined elapsed time. The topic corresponds to a specific domain from among a plurality of available domains for automatic speech recognition (ASR) processing. The method triggers selection and activation of a first domain specific (DS) ASR engine from among a plurality of available DS ASR engines to utilize a smaller resource footprint than a general ASR engine and facilitate recognition of specific vocabulary and context, in part, based on the elapsed time since the previous communication.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Inventors: ZHENGPING JI, LEO S. WOICESHYN, KARTHIK MOHAN KUMAR, YI WU, THOMAS Y. MERRELL
  • Patent number: 10402621
    Abstract: A system includes a fingerprint sensor, an application processor, and an auxiliary processor. The application processor is operable to arm the fingerprint sensor prior to the application processor entering a low power or sleep mode. The auxiliary processor is to receive a state output from the fingerprint sensor. The state output is to cause activation of one or more functions of the auxiliary processor upon fingerprint authentication while leaving the application processor in the low power or sleep mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Y. Merrell, Jeffrey A. Sierawski
  • Patent number: 9939958
    Abstract: An electronic device (300) includes a housing (301). A touch sensitive surface (100) can be disposed along the housing. The touch sensitive surface can include a recessed surface feature (106) on a portion of the touch sensitive surface. A control circuit (315), operable with the touch sensitive surface, can detect a predetermined gesture sequence (501, 502, 503) when a touch actuation along the touch sensitive surface interacts with the recessed surface feature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
    Inventors: Chad Austin Phipps, Jeffrey R. DeVries, John C. Johnson, Louis J. Lundell, Thomas Y. Merrell, Mitul R. Patel, Jiri Slaby
  • Publication number: 20180053034
    Abstract: A system includes a fingerprint sensor, an application processor, and an auxiliary processor. The application processor is operable to arm the fingerprint sensor prior to the application processor entering a low power or sleep mode. The auxiliary processor is to receive a state output from the fingerprint sensor. The state output is to cause activation of one or more functions of the auxiliary processor upon fingerprint authentication while leaving the application processor in the low power or sleep mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2017
    Publication date: February 22, 2018
    Inventors: Thomas Y. MERRELL, Jeffrey A. Sierawski
  • Patent number: 9888333
    Abstract: Three-dimensional (3D) audio content creation and rendering systems and methodologies are presented here. A disclosed method of processing 3D audio assigns audio source objects to 3D video objects, links audio tracks to assigned audio source objects, and performs wave field synthesis on the linked audio tracks to generate 3D audio data representing a 3D spatial sound field. A disclosed method of processing 3D audio during playback of 3D video content obtains 3D audio data and 3D video data for a frame of 3D video content, applies device-specific parameters to the 3D audio data to obtain transformed 3D audio data scaled to a presentation device, and processes the transformed 3D audio data to render audio information for an array of speakers associated with the presentation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: GOOGLE TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS LLC
    Inventors: Robert A. Zurek, Thomas Y. Merrell
  • Patent number: 9836637
    Abstract: A system includes a fingerprint sensor, an application processor, and an auxiliary processor. The application processor is operable to arm the fingerprint sensor prior to the application processor entering a low power or sleep mode. The auxiliary processor is to receive a state output from the fingerprint sensor. The state output is to cause activation of one or more functions of the auxiliary processor upon fingerprint authentication while leaving the application processor in the low power or sleep mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Y Merrell, Jeffrey A Sierawski
  • Patent number: 9826082
    Abstract: A system and method for sensing a user presence via thermal signature sensing employs adaptive filtering of a motion spectrum to discern a user presence signature over background thermal noise. In an embodiment, adaptive sub-band filters are applied within the motion spectrum, and a user presence is indicated by the presence of a thermal signature having at least a predetermined magnitude or profile within any searched sub-band. In an embodiment, a low pass filter is applied to search for a stationary presence if the sub-band search procedure does not yield a user thermal signature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC
    Inventors: Rachid M Alameh, Adam J Bousley, Thomas Y Merrell
  • Publication number: 20170269786
    Abstract: An electronic device (300) includes a housing (301). A touch sensitive surface (100) can be disposed along the housing. The touch sensitive surface can include a recessed surface feature (106) on a portion of the touch sensitive surface. A control circuit (315), operable with the touch sensitive surface, can detect a predetermined gesture sequence (501, 502, 503) when a touch actuation along the touch sensitive surface interacts with the recessed surface feature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Publication date: September 21, 2017
    Inventors: Chad Austin Phipps, Jeffrey R. DeVries, John C. Johnson, Louis J. Lundell, Thomas Y. Merrell, Mitul R. Patel, Jiri Slaby
  • Patent number: 9684410
    Abstract: An electronic device (300) includes a housing (301). A touch sensitive surface (100) can be disposed along the housing. The touch sensitive surface can include a recessed surface feature (106) on a portion of the touch sensitive surface. A control circuit (315), operable with the touch sensitive surface, can detect a predetermined gesture sequence (501, 502, 503) when a touch actuation along the touch sensitive surface interacts with the recessed surface feature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
    Inventors: Chad Austin Phipps, Jeffrey R. DeVries, John C. Johnson, Louis J. Lundell, Thomas Y. Merrell, Mitul R. Patel, Jiri Slaby
  • Patent number: 9506966
    Abstract: In embodiments of an off-center sensor target region, a capacitive sensor can include a target region that is located off-center relative to a center of the sensor. A touch input to the target region of the capacitive sensor can be determined to be valid sensor input and a touch contact that correlates to the center of the capacitive sensor can be determined to be false sensor input. The target region of the capacitive sensor can correspond to a selectable control that is selectable by a user to initiate a device function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
    Inventors: Paul R Steuer, Thomas Y Merrell
  • Publication number: 20160299634
    Abstract: An electronic device (300) includes a housing (301). A touch sensitive surface (100) can be disposed along the housing. The touch sensitive surface can include a recessed surface feature (106) on a portion of the touch sensitive surface. A control circuit (315), operable with the touch sensitive surface, can detect a predetermined gesture sequence (501, 502, 503) when a touch actuation along the touch sensitive surface interacts with the recessed surface feature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2016
    Publication date: October 13, 2016
    Inventors: Chad Austin Phipps, Jeffrey R. DeVries, John C Johnson, Louis J. Lundell, Thomas Y. Merrell, Mitul R. Patel, Jiri Slaby
  • Publication number: 20160241704
    Abstract: A system and method for sensing a user presence via thermal signature sensing employs adaptive filtering of a motion spectrum to discern a user presence signature over background thermal noise. In an embodiment, adaptive sub-band filters are applied within the motion spectrum, and a user presence is indicated by the presence of a thermal signature having at least a predetermined magnitude or profile within any searched sub-band. In an embodiment, a low pass filter is applied to search for a stationary presence if the sub-band search procedure does not yield a user thermal signature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2015
    Publication date: August 18, 2016
    Inventors: Rachid M. Alameh, Adam J. Bousley, Thomas Y. Merrell
  • Patent number: 9400525
    Abstract: An electronic device (300) includes a housing (301). A touch sensitive surface (100) can be disposed along the housing. The touch sensitive surface can include a recessed surface feature (106) on a portion of the touch sensitive surface. A control circuit (315), operable with the touch sensitive surface, can detect a predetermined gesture sequence (501, 502, 503) when a touch actuation along the touch sensitive surface interacts with the recessed surface feature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2016
    Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
    Inventors: Chad Austin Phipps, Jeffrey R. DeVries, John C. Johnson, Louis J. Lundell, Thomas Y. Merrell, Mitul R. Patel, Jiri Slaby
  • Patent number: 9396380
    Abstract: A system includes a fingerprint sensor and an auxiliary processor. The auxiliary processor is operable to arm the fingerprint sensor prior to the auxiliary processor entering a low power or sleep mode. The fingerprint sensor can detect a finger proximately located with the fingerprint sensor, capture and store fingerprint data from the finger, perform at least one pre-processing step after capturing the fingerprint data from the finger while the auxiliary processor is in the low power or sleep mode, and after the at least one pre-processing step and upon receiving a request from the auxiliary processor for the finger print data deliver the fingerprint data to the auxiliary processor. The auxiliary processor can compare the fingerprint data to reference data and determine whether the fingerprint data substantially matches the reference data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: GOOGLE TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Y Merrell, Steven M. Knapp
  • Publication number: 20160086010
    Abstract: A system includes a fingerprint sensor and an auxiliary processor. The auxiliary processor is operable to arm the fingerprint sensor prior to the auxiliary processor entering a low power or sleep mode. The fingerprint sensor can detect a finger proximately located with the fingerprint sensor, capture and store fingerprint data from the finger, perform at least one pre-processing step after capturing the fingerprint data from the finger while the auxiliary processor is in the low power or sleep mode, and after the at least one pre-processing step and upon receiving a request from the auxiliary processor for the finger print data deliver the fingerprint data to the auxiliary processor. The auxiliary processor can compare the fingerprint data to reference data and determine whether the fingerprint data substantially matches the reference data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2015
    Publication date: March 24, 2016
    Inventors: Thomas Y. Merrell, Steven M. Knapp
  • Publication number: 20160026841
    Abstract: A system includes a fingerprint sensor and an auxiliary processor. The auxiliary processor is operable to arm the fingerprint sensor prior to the auxiliary processor entering a low power or sleep mode. The fingerprint sensor can detect a finger proximately located with the fingerprint sensor, capture and store fingerprint data from the finger, perform at least one pre-processing step after capturing the fingerprint data from the finger while the auxiliary processor is in the low power or sleep mode, and after the at least one pre-processing step and upon receiving a request from the auxiliary processor for the finger print data deliver the fingerprint data to the auxiliary processor. The auxiliary processor can compare the fingerprint data to reference data and determine whether the fingerprint data substantially matches the reference data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2014
    Publication date: January 28, 2016
    Inventors: Thomas Y. Merrell, Steven M. Knapp
  • Patent number: 9235299
    Abstract: A touch sensitive surface (401) for an electronic device (200) includes a capacitive touchpad (409). A grille (413) of non-conductive material (515) is disposed along at least a portion of the touch sensitive surface. A predefined threshold of a normal force component (804) applied by a user's finger or other conductive object overcomes the grille (413) to allow the finger or other conductive object to interact with the capacitive touchpad. The touch sensitive surface reduces false touch activation occurrences and can simulate the tactility of a mechanical switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
    Inventors: Roger W Ady, Thomas Y Merrell, Jiri Slaby